Richard Castle
Richard "Rick" Edgar Castle, born Richard Alexander Rodgers, is a character portrayed by Nathan Fillion in the ABC crime series Castle. Character Family life Castle is the son of Martha Rodgers and the father of Alexis Castle, who live with him; Fillion describes the family dynamic as unconventional because Castle is "mothered by his... daughter, then... turns around and mothers his own mother".Nathan Fillion on Playing the Childlike Richard Castle As a child, he never knew who his father was- reasoning that he never missed having a father as he never had anything to miss, and it allowed him to imagine that his father could be anyone he wished- and was looked after by a nanny who spent most of her time watching daytime television, with One Life to Live as the inspiration to write his first novel. He also claims to have been kicked out of all of New York's finer academic institutions at least once, and to have picked up speed reading while spending his days as a child in the New York Public Library. Richard has been married and divorced twice. His first wife was Alexis' mother, Meredith, an impulsive, over-sexed actress. She and Richard occasionally meet for a sexual liaison, causing Richard to refer to her metaphorically as a "deep-fried Twinkie" (something that is a treat on occasion, but to have it every day would kill you) when she contemplated moving back to New York. His second wife was Gina Cowell,Listing - Castle on ABC his publisher and publicity agent, a role she continues after their divorce. Richard has sole custody of his daughter, Alexis, due to her mother's lifestyle (although even he acknowledges how slightly disturbing it is that he's the responsible one of Alexis' parents). Due to his own experiences being raised by a nanny, he insisted on raising her himself, made easier by the fact that he works from his large loft apartment, which has been shown in exterior shots to be at 425 Broome Street in SoHo. Alexis is quite mature and responsible compared to her father, and in some sense parents him and herself (such as grounding herself for jumping a subway turnstile). Richard takes great care to look after her well-being, but also behaves like a surrogate sibling in some ways. Castle also plays regular poker games with fellow authors James Patterson, Stephen J. Cannell, and Michael Connelly. Writing career Castle is an author of mystery fiction, with 26 bestsellers under his belt. His most popular works comprise a series starring "Derrick Storm," including the novels In a Hail of Bullets (winner of the Nom DePlume Society's Tom Straw Award for Mystery Literature),[http://www.amazon.com/dp/1401323820 Heat Wave cover] Gathering Storm, Unholy Storm, Storm's Last Stand, Storm Season, Storm Rising, Storm Warning, and Storm's Break; in the pilot episode, Castle attends a party for the release of the final book in the Storm series, Storm Fall, in which he kills off his protagonist after becoming bored with the character. He later reads from the novel before a book-signing. Patterson and Cannell both disagree with the decision, with Cannell claiming that he could have crippled Storm instead. Castle's other books include Death of a Prom Queen, Flowers For Your Grave, Hell Hath No Fury, A Skull at Springtime, At Dusk We Die, When It Comes to Slaughter, and A Rose for Everafter. After using his friendship with the Mayor to get partnered with NYPD detective Kate Beckett (under the pretense of conducting research for a new character), Castle plans a new series of novels starring a new detective based on Beckett. Toward the end of the second episode, the name of Beckett's literary alter-ego is revealed to be "Nikki Heat"; in the fourth episode, Beckett takes umbrage at the name- regarding it as a "stripper name", and insists that Castle change it, despite his proposing the book titles Summer Heat, Heat Wave, and In Heat. He was considered to write three novels revolving around an unnamed British spy because Castle and his publisher claimed that saying the name would jinx the deal- that he was apparently a fan of, but rejected the offer when his publisher wanted three more Nikki Heat novels and offered him more money (although the fact that such a deal would have terminated his partnership with Beckett may have also contributed to his decision). In Season 2, episode 6, it is suggested that Castle's interest in death, murder, and the macabre may be the result of witnessing a childhood trauma. When confronted several times about it by Beckett, Castle avoids the question. However, as soon as he tells the story, he admits it's fiction. Later in the episode he admits to his daughter that one of the reasons he writes is to try and understand how criminals could do the things they do. Police consulting In the pilot episode, Castle is consulted by Detective Beckett of the NYPD when two victims are murdered in the style of two deaths portrayed in Castle's novels. Though Beckett wants Castle's access to the case limited, Castle repeatedly defies her instructions in order to see the handiwork of his copycat. Unsatisfied with what he considers a boring resolution to the case, Castle convinces Beckett to continue the investigation, and winds up discovering deeper layers to the crime; while the murders initially appeared to have been committed by the mentally ill client of a social worker who was one of the victims, Castle notes that the murderer didn't duplicate the crimes exactly, eliminating the possibility that he was a deranged fan, realizing that the killer was actually the social worker's brother attempting to frame her client so that he could inherit his father's money after his death (his father suffering from terminal cancer). By the end of the pilot, Castle enters into a working relationship with Beckett under the pretense of conducting research for his new series of "Nikki Heat" novels. This relationship is often strained by Castle's luck in personally encountering the suspects, and sneaking in behind breaching teams even after Beckett has ordered him to remain behind, his attempts to follow them once allowing a suspect a chance to escape (although in Castle's defense this was merely because his ex-wife called him on his mobile during the stakeout rather than any mistakes on his part). Despite this, Castle's familiarity with numerous obscure subjects has allowed him to continue working with Detective Beckett on what are classified as "unusual" homicides, Castle often being able to provide further assistance and information about the current case due to his wide range of contacts assembled during his writing career- including a CIA agent who was actually willing to break agency protocol by telling Castle and Beckett that their current victim was not a CIA agent despite agency policy being to deny any requests about agent identification- and the research he has carried out during that time. Although Beckett must often step in to stop him from getting carried away with his theories of what happened when they threaten to obscure the search for the facts – such as when he speculated that a surgeon had been killed for his involvement in an organ-smuggling ring before they discovered that he was wanted for plastic surgery he'd performed on someone in Witness Protection – his writing career has given him a knack for noting minor details in the situations they investigate, such as when he noted that rent for a victim's apartment would have been paid for after her death. Although initially portrayed as relatively jocular and slightly immature about his role in investigations- such as having a bulletproof vest made up for himself that says 'WRITER' rather than 'POLICE' so he can participate in raids, Castle has demonstrated significant character depth as the series progresses. This was shown most keenly in "Sucker Punch", when, while attempting to catch the killer responsible for the death of Beckett's mother over a decade ago, Castle willingly donated $100,000 of his own money to set up a fake dead drop to try and lure the killer out so that he could be caught, subsequently offering to terminate his partnership with Beckett after she was forced to shoot the real killer – revealed to be a contract assassin who wouldn't disclose the identity of the person who hired him – in order to save his life, although Beckett rejected the offer on the grounds that Castle made her hard job more fun. Background In addition to Castle's knowledge of a multitude of topics, he has also demonstrated a high level of marksmanship and personal defensive training, even out-shooting Beckett on a range as part of a bet, in which he actually hustled evidence out of her by initially pretending to be a terrible shot; during a confrontation with serial killer Scott Dunn, Castle even managed to shoot his gun out of Dunn's hand before he could shoot at the currently-downed Beckett (although Castle claimed after Dunn's arrest that he'd actually been aiming for the other man's head). Castle appears to have multiple skills, including fencing. In "Tick, Tick, Tick..." he operated a Taser, so it is shown he is at least familiar with basic police weaponry. Although he has no knowledge of his paternal heritage, Captain Montgomery has speculated that Castle's knack for police work may come from someone in his family. Castle's bibliography * In a Hail of Bullets (winner of the Nom DePlume Society's Tom Straw Award for Mystery Literature) * Gathering Storm * Unholy Storm * Storm's Last Stand * Storm Season * Storm Rising * Storm Warning * Storm's Break * Storm Fall * Heat Wave * Naked Heat * Death of a Prom Queen * Flowers For Your Grave * Hell Hath No Fury * A Skull at Springtime * At Dusk We Die * When It Comes to Slaughter * A Rose for Everafter Development According to Fillion, the character's name "Rick Castle" was intended to sound "like you're saying 'Rick Asshole'," and executive producer Andrew W. Marlowe confirmed that "'it's certainly a way when you're yelling his name for it to sound a little bit like...' a profanity." The actor also describes Castle as "a bit of a douche" with "a bit of a Peter Pan Syndrome" stemming from a lack of "real male adult role models in his life."Nathan Fillion Talks Castle and a Little Itty Bit of Whedon Marlowe explained that he designed Castle's character as one that presents a "storytelling point of view" as a counterpoint to Beckett's evidence-based policework.Fillion's bad boy charm makes him king of ABC's 'Castle' On casting Fillion to fill the role, Marlowe described Castle as "the right vehicle for the right personality."King of the 'Castle' He also acknowledged the similarity between the Castle/Beckett relationship and the Booth-Brennan relationship of Bones.Owen-TV: 'Castle' star the next Angela Lansbury? References External links *Richard Castle author page @ Amazon.com **Heat Wave novel @ ABC.go.com **Heat Wave novel @ Amazon.com **Naked Heat novel @ ABC.go.com **Naked Heat novel @ Amazon.com Category:Characters Category:Main characters